Views

Country Web site modules

Modules are built-in Joomla components that you can add to your site to hold content. For example, the Featured Stories widget that cycles through a specific categories of posts with dynamic Flash is the YOOcarousel module.

You can insert 21 different modules and place them in various positions on your site. Some of the modules have already been added to the template, such as the banner, footer, menu, and search.

Contents

Module descriptions

Note: For complete descriptions of each module, go to Extensions > Module Manager, click New, and then click Help

Module

Description

Archived Content

A list of articles you have archived.

Banner

The banner graphic for the site.

Breadcrumbs

The hierarchical path of where you are in the site.

Custom HTML

Your own HTML content for the section. Tip: When added to the Left position, this module looks like a sidebar.

Feed Display

Items from an RSS feed.

Footer

The copyright information for the site.

Latest News

The most recently added articles.

Login

A login form to sign in to the site. This module should not be used. To log in, users must go to the administrators URL.

Menu

A menu similar to the main or right menu.

Most Read Content

The most popular articles on the site.

Newsflash

An excerpt from an article in a specific category. The newsflash changes each time you refresh the page.

Poll

A poll or survey users can vote on.

Random Image

A random image from the folder you select. The images change each time you refresh the page.

Related Articles

A list of articles related to the current article you’re viewing.

Search

A search form to search the site.

Sections

A list of all the sections in the database, as you have set them up in the Section Manager.

Statistics

Statistics about the Web site and server, such as operating system and hits.

Syndicate

RSS feed link for the page.

Who’s Online

The number of guests and members online.

Wrapper

Another Web site embedded into the space.

Yoocarousel

The Featured Stories section on the home page.

Module Positions

You can place modules in 18 different positions on the template. The available positions for each module are detailed in the this diagram , which also appears as a link in the left navigation of your site and in the user guide.

When a position is left blank, the positions near it expand to fill the space. For example, if you place a module in the left position, and no other modules are in the left position, the module fills the entire left space of the sidebar.

Add a module

To add a module to the template:

Go to Extensions > Module Manager.

Click New.

Select the module you want to add, and then click Next.

In the Details section, select the details for the module. The details vary based on the module. Here are some details for an HTML module:

Title: :A name for the module.

Show Title: :Whether you want the title to appear next to the module. Not all modules are intended to display a title. If you select Yes, the title will appear as a sidebar heading.

Enabled: This option allows you to to activate the module. If you disable it, the module disappears.

Position: Position refers to the user position that the module should appear in. Refer to the user positions diagram in the user guide or the link in your left navigation for details here.

Order: Indicates module order within the same position. If you have multiple modules added to this position, select the order in which the modules should appear.

Access Level: This option is irrelevant because the front-end of Joomla has been turned off, so it doesn't matter what you select here.

In the Menu Assignment section, select whether you want the module to appear for all menu selections or to appear only when the user clicks a certain menu item. Most likely you’ll want to leave the All option selected so that the module is always visible wherever the user is on the site.

In the Parameters section on the right you often have other options for the module. These options vary based on the module. The option here allows me to add a style class to this custom HTML module.

In the Custom Output section at the bottom, type the HTML that you want the module to display.

Click Save.

Remove a module

Just as you can add modules, you can also take them away. To remove a module from the template:

Go to Extensions > Module Manager.

Select the check box next to the module you want to remove. In this case, I’ll remove one of my custom HTML modules.

Click either Disable or Delete, depending on how you want to remove it.

Disable hides the module and is useful if you want to reactivate it later. Delete removes the module from your site.

Note: When you delete a module, you’re only removing the module instance you added. You’re not deleting the module template from which the module instance was created. For example, if you delete a custom HTML module that you added, you can always add another custom HTML module to your site later. You’ll just have to repopulate the new module instance with content.

Configuring the featured story module

The home page of your site has a rotating series of articles in the User 2 position here. This section is titled Main Feature. However, the technical name for this module is the YOOcarousel module.

The YOOcarousel module cycles through articles in a specific category. Currently, the module is set to cycle through all articles in the Presidency Messages category in the Featured Messages section.
You can set which category the module cycles through, the number of articles, and other details.

To configure the YOOcarousel module:

Go to Extensions > Module Manager.

Click Main Feature.

In the Title field, change the title of the module as desired.

In the Module Parameters section on the right, select the details for the module.

Category: Allows you to select the category that the articles are pulled from. The YOOcarousel can only pull articles from one category at a time, so it’s probably best to dedicate a category just for this module.

No. of items: Determines how many items appear from the category. The latest items from the category appear. If you have short names for each tab, you can fit as many as five articles here. If you have long tab names, maybe only two articles will fit.

The other options control the look and functionality of the module. You can experiment with different settings. For example, if you turn off Autoplay, the carousel won’t automatically move from tab to tab.

Add articles to the main feature (YOOCarousel module)

To add an article to the Main Feature (the flash carousel at the center of the home page):

Create a new article by going to Content > Article Manager and click New.

For the title, note that the title becomes the tab name on the carousel. If you have a long title, you won’t be able to add very many tabs. So limit the title to one or two words only.

In the Section drop-down box, select Featured Messages. By default, the Presidency Messages category will also be selected. (You could always rename these sections and categories to something more appropriate to what you’re using the YOOCarousel for.)

In the content area, type the title for the article at the top and format it with the Heading 1 style (or something similar).

Type some text after your title.

After several lines, insert a Read More tag or a link. The carousel only has a small space to show content, so if you don’t truncate it with a link after the first paragraph, the text will flow beyond the module’s visibility.

Click Save. Now when you refresh the page, you’ll see the article you just added.